Studios by the SeaBy Bob Colacello

Artists have always had this love/hate relationship with any community. We want to live close together. And yet we value our privacy. But sometimes it is nice to run into someone you know at Guild Hall, or at the supermarket, or at a vegetable stand, or at the beach. Basically artists want to be someplace where artists are appreciated. And the Hamptons has been an artists colony for a very long time./Chuck Close

Photo: Jonathan Becker

Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey bought this property in 1971. Built in the 1930's as a fishing camp by an Idaho mining tycoon, who only used it in September when the bass were running, the property included five house, a stable and a garage. Long before the Hamptons became the playground of celebrities and nouveaux riches, they were a popular refuge for artists and, to this day the tradition continues.

In "Studios by the Sea" Vanity Fair correspondent Bob Colacello and photographer Jonathan Becker go inside the renovated barns, split-shingled cottages, and minimalist mansions of the modern-day artist colony that is Long Island's East End. Larry Rivers, John Chamberlain, Robert Wilson, April Gornik, Julian Schnabel, Peter Beard, Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, Paul Morrissey and David Salle are among the 40 prominent artists featured in the book.

Photo: Jonathan BeckerArtist

David Salle's studio was designed according to classical greek proportions by architect Annabelle Selldorf.

Photo: Jonathan Becker

Artist William De Kooning designed and built his combined studio and house in 1961 in a classical modernist style inspired by the ship on which he was a stowaway when he came to America from Holland as a young man.

Photo: Jonathan BeckerArtist Julian

Schnabel in his 60x34 foot open-air studio. On the walls his "The Girl with No Eyes" he painted with his fingers.